Money Diaries is the regular R29 series where we tackle what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. And so we ask all different kinds of women to map out their seven days in money for us.
Now, though, Money Diaries is branching out – we’re going to find out exactly what people spend on their holidays!
This week we're with a 21-year-old student who just handed in all her university work and is taking off to Berlin for six days to visit an old friend. She isn't much of a frivolous spender so doesn't anticipate any major money concerns. She hasn't really budgeted for this trip and instead is celebrating that she is finally done after four years of university.
If you want to do your own Money Diary, email us at moneydiary@refinery29.uk.
The Basics
Accommodation: I can stay with my friend in her lovely studio so I was very lucky that this was £0.
Flights: After seeing an email about super-cheap flights, I checked for Berlin. When I saw that a last-minute return trip to Berlin would set me back £19.98, I didn’t hesitate to book.
Total: £19.98
Day One
9.15am: Leave the flat to catch a pre-booked bus from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and from Glasgow to Glasgow airport. It’s a bit of a faff but I couldn’t get a flight to Berlin from Edinburgh and, at each flight under a tenner, I think I can deal with it. The bus costs £15.60 and I pay £0.30 in the bus station to use the icky bathroom.
12.45pm: At the airport I can’t resist a browse of the shops. I end up buying a magazine, mainly for the freebie Neal's Yard Remedies hand cream. Completely justifiable as my hands are dry, I brought my own food, and I filled my bottle with free chilled water from the water fountain after security. £3.99
6.30pm: Finally get out of the airport in Berlin and buy a single ticket for the S-Bahn and somehow recognise where I’m going. When I finally get to Alexanderplatz a tourist asks me for directions. This is not good for my ego. €3.40
7.30pm: After reuniting with my friend on the street we decide to head straight to her favourite local Vietnamese restaurant. The pot of jasmine tea I order is probably the equivalent of a normal mug's-worth. After dinner, we go home and have a big catch-up. We watch a couple of episodes of Freaks and Geeks which I have never heard of before. After just one episode it is quickly becoming my new obsession. €12
Total: £32.99
Day Two
10.25am: Friend suggests we try to do the things which are further in distance so that I can make the most of buying a day ticket for the S-Bahn. €7
11am: We get the U to the tiny but extremely Pinterest-esque café for brunch my friend has raved about. She was right, the food is so delicious. €12.50
1.05pm: After having taken the U-Bahn again we walk around and relax in the makeshift gardens at Tempelhofer Feld. I find a postcard of Tempelhofer Feld for my parents. Friend says she’s got a stamp for me. €1.10
1.15pm: The tea shop I loved last time I visited is just around the corner. We go in and I buy a tea caddy which reads ‘Hail the Tea’. €4. Afterwards we walk to my favourite café from last time for a tea break. €3.50
3.35pm: Get back to the flat. Am so hungry I feel like I can’t even function. Run down to the supermarket around the corner for an emergency apple. €0.40
5pm: Taking the U, we head to an Asian fusion tapas-style restaurant. Am so hungry that I break an eight-week vegetarian streak to eat prawns again after nasty food poisoning. Still hungry, we decide to get a second round. Feel so full but so content. €15
8pm: Take the U to meet one of her friends at a bar. We both don’t feel like drinking alcohol so get some green tea. Her friend pays before we get the chance.
10.15pm: We take the U home and watch an episode or two of Freaks and Geeks in bed.
Total: £36.93
Day Three
10.45am: Get a toasted sandwich for breakfast at my friend’s favourite study café. She does some uni work while I colour and read a book. €3.50
1.50pm: We go back to my favourite café. I get an aubergine sandwich. I feel slightly better. €5.20
3.20pm: Manage to resist buying anything after browsing some shops. Next, we head to the National Gallery. €5 with student discount.
5pm: Leaving the museum I decide I want to find a trashy shop so I can buy a classy magnet. Find one, which is of course horribly overpriced, but justify it in the name of curating my fridge door. €6.95
6.15pm: We head to a Mexican restaurant. I get a Mexican burrito bowl which is delicious and surprisingly cheap. €7.50
7.30pm: We finally find the right cinema after a mix-up and buy a ticket to see Moonlight. Intense but really good. €8 with student discount.
10pm: Walk home and decide an episode or two of Freaks and Geek s in bed can’t hurt. With tea of course. What else did you expect?
Total: £30.71
Day Four
9.45am: My friend has a test photoshoot and is not sure when she will be done. It looks like I’ve got the morning and afternoon to myself. I grab some breakfast stuff from the shop around the corner. €3.29
12.20pm: It starts hailing/ raining/ whatever this is. Feeling grumpy that the Scottish weather has followed me, I seek refuge in the department store on Alexanderplatz. I try on some beautiful and expensive underwear but manage to resist. On the way out I find a birthday present for my sister. €31.80
12.45pm: Somehow, I’ve found myself in a courtyard surrounding a beautiful church. The sky is bright blue and the sun is shining again. Having a bit of a squeeze-me moment and feeling ridiculously happy. This is only heightened by the sight of a specialist tea shop. I settle on an ‘exotic’ green tea blend which smells delicious and what I would imagine a Caribbean island would be like. Contemplate possible ways to test this theory. €5.80
1.20pm: Head back to the flat and buy some stuff for lunch on the way. €3.90
2pm: Decide I’m sufficiently defrosted and head out again. Walk in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate from Alexanderplatz near where my friend lives. Nip briefly into some churches and then the free exhibition I spot at the New Palace.
6.15pm: I eventually make it back to the flat just before my friend does. We both decide there is only one way to go with dinner, which is go to the Chinese where the fried rice apparently is second to none. €10
7.30pm: With plans to go out later we decide to go to a close-by café to prevent me from falling asleep. I order mint tea. €3.10
8.35pm: We head back to the flat and realise we need to buy some food for breakfast as the shops are closed on Sundays so stop by a shop on the way. Once back, I drink the strongest tea she can offer so I can muster some energy. An episode of Freaks and Geeks seems to have helped a bit. €1.05
10pm: Having committed, we head to the tram to go to the pre-drinks happening at her friends’ place. Am told they never check for tram tickets and only tourists buy them. Decide to risk it. Her friends have already bought drinks, and we drink gin and tonics along with some typically Berlin peppermint liquor drink.
1.30am: The taxi they ordered finally arrives and we head to Prince Charles where a massive queue awaits us. My friend and I are told to dash to get in line while they try to find people they know. Her friends kindly pay for the taxi and somehow manage to get us all to skip most of the queue. I don’t care much at this point about being polite or not.
2.10am: Finally getting in, we pay the entrance fee and cloakroom. This place is massive and we join the others at the bar where shots await us. This is probably one of the most fun nights I have had, the music is great and somehow there is always a drink in my hand courtesy of her friend. €14.50
5.10am: Deciding to call it a night we take the U-Bahn home. I resist the chicken nuggets my friend buys. €2.80
Total: £64.66
Day Five
1.45pm: Finally muster the energy to get out of bed to drink water. Fish my watch out from behind the bed. Get back into bed.
2.20pm: Take a shower and eat breakfast from the food bought yesterday.
4pm: We take the U-Bahn early to a café in Kreuzberg where my friend is having a group project meeting at five. €2.80
4.30pm: Having claimed a table, she works on her laptop while I read. I buy a fresh mint tea and a sandwich. €6.80
6.50pm: The group meeting is over and we take the U again to the Vietnamese restaurant to get takeout. We devour it while watching a couple of episodes of Freaks and Geeks, and Black Mirror. €10.30
Total: £19.89
Day Six
8am: Already say goodbye to my friend as she has morning class and my flight leaves around noon. Pack my suitcase and get ready.
8.50am: Go to the bakery and supermarket around the corner and buy some food for breakfast and for travelling. Contemplate buying a small bottle of the peppermint liquor to take back with me. Decide that it is too early in the morning to buy alcohol. €8.12
10.10am: Yesterday I remembered that I forgot to validate a ticket for the U. Cheekily use it again for the S-Bahn to the airport. I am still a student after all.
11.25am: Cave at duty free when I see the liquor in a 200ml Brandenburg-shaped bottle. It is ridiculously overpriced in comparison to the 99 cents at the supermarket for 100ml. All I can say is that I think it would make a great centrepiece at a drinks area. If I had one that is. Should probably create one. Decide it’s a good enough reason for me. €15.50
1.15pm: We finally take off after a delay. Eat the food I bought that morning.
3.15pm: Decide to take the bus to the train station from where a direct train runs to Edinburgh. Much faster and the little extra is worth not standing around for. Am so thirsty but refuse to pay for bottled water. I’m already missing Berlin. I counsel myself that it’s only the start of summer. It’s been a pretty great one at that. £20.10
Total: £40.16
The Breakdown
Food/drink: £120.48
Travel: £69.26
Accommodation: £0
Shopping: £41.23
Other: £11.35
Total: £242.32
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